I watched as both suits flew up towards the portal, then as (Y/N)’s fell back, flailing as he fell towards the ground. Thankfully he was caught by three of the Legion Drones, gently brought down near where Thor and Captain Rogers were standing, looking towards the sky. I heard a muffled blast, and turned back. I couldn’t seem much through the portal except a handful of stars. The Chitauri began to fall limp, one of the worm things that was flying by falling immediately to the ground. He did it. I looked back up, hoping to see Tony’s suit falling back through.

Natasha: “Come on Tony.”

Steve: ‘…Close it.’ I didn’t have a choice. I slammed the Scepter down onto the Tesseract, cutting it off from the rest of the device and cutting the power keeping the portal open. The portal began to collapse in on itself instantly, disappearing into the sky, still no sign of Tony.

You: ‘Look!’ Seems (Y/N) had been able to regain control of his suit and comm. I looked, as he requested. Sure enough, Tony and his suit had fallen back through the portal

Steve: ‘Son of a Gun.’ Problem was he wasn’t slowing down, he was free falling.

(Your POV)

You: “JARVIS… Reboot.”

JARVIS: “System Rebooting.” I had been laid on the ground at Roger’s feet, the remaining twenty two Legioneers having gathered around us. My display jumped back to life, the applications filtering through as the system ran its diagnostic. Eventually the ocular cameras kicked back in, followed closely by the audio receivers.

Thor: “ARE YOU ALRIGHT SIR STARK!?” I wish they hadn’t. Apparently Thor had taken it upon himself to yell at me until I responded.

You: “I’m FINE DAMNIT!” I yelled back, causing both he and Rogers to jump back slightly. “Just can’t move is all.”

Steve: “Need help up?” Rogers extended his hand, which I took.

You: “Thanks.” He helped me to my feet, then turned back towards the portal in the sky.

Steve: “He hasn’t come back through yet.” I looked up, then around. All the Chitauri had fallen to the ground, limp and lifeless. He did it. He must have destroyed whatever it was that was controlling them. I looked back to the sky, expecting my older brother to fly back through the portal, bragging about how he’d saved the world. But he didn’t, instead silence filled my ears. “Close it.” I didn’t have the strength left in me to argue, so I let it go. I watched as the beam of power keeping the portal open cut. I watched as the portal began to collapse in on itself, disappearing into the sky. And I watched as.. wait..

You: “Look!” They all turned back up, seeing what I had seen, a small, red and gold dot falling out of the hole at the last moment.

Steve: “Son of a Gun.” I sighed heavily in relief, but only briefly.

Thor: “He’s not slowing down.” He wasn’t, no instead he kept falling towards the ground. Limp and lifeless. Thor began to spin his hammer as I prepped to fly up and catch him myself. However we were both beaten to the punch as the Hulk came barreling out of nowhere, catching Tony midair then sliding down the side of a building to bring him down. The creature landed in front of us on its back with a heavy thud, tossing Tony to the side.

You: “Give me some space.” I kneeled down, pressing my hands against his chest as my visor popped open. “Tase him.” My suit whirred to life, sending a jolt of energy through Tony’s own. It jumped, but he didn’t move. “Again.” Another jolt, still nothing. “Come on you son of a bitch you’re not doing this to me again. AGAIN.” Another jolt. Nothing. “AGAIN.”

Steve: “(Y/N).”

You: “Come on! AGAIN!” Another jolt. Nothing. “Bastard!” I banged my fist against his suited chest, again and again, willing him to get up. “Get up! Get up you prick!”

Steve: “(Y/N).. (Y/N) that’s enough.” Rogers laid a hand on my shoulder as I sat back on the ground. “I’m sorry.” We sat in silence for a moment, no one seemed to know what to say. Until the Hulk Roared out, scaring Tony awake.

Tony: WHAT THE HELL!?” Thor and Rogers looked on in relief, smiles on their faces. I was absolutely pissed. “What just happened? Who's been pounding on my chest? Please tell me nobody kissed me.” His eyes rolled around in there sockets, roving over all of us until they fell on me and my frowning features. “Oh… Hi (Y/N).”

You: “You. Mother. Fu…” I jumped onto him, wrapping my hands around his neck and shaking him, banging his head against the pavement.

Tony: “I’m. Sorry. I . Scared. You. Help.” His words came with each hit against the floor.

You: “Sorry!? You scared the shit out of me!”

Steve: “(Y/N)! (Y/N) it's ok he’s alive!”

You: “Not for much longer!”

Tony: “Help!” Eventually, the Hulk wrapped its hand around my middle, jerking me off and away from my brother.

You: “Put me down so I can kill him proper!” It roared again, barring its teeth in my face. “Never mind, it’s cool. I’m calm.” The others chuckled around me. “Hey look we won! Yay! Please put me down.” It huffed in my face, but eventually did set me down.. well dropped me is a more accurate term. But at least it understood me.

Thor: “We’re not finished yet.” All eyes turned back to the tower. Right. I sighed, my visor snapping closed as I readied to take off.

Steve: “Would be appreciated… Lieutenant.” We took off, followed closely by Thor, the Hulk jumped, quickly scaling the tower on its own.

Tony: “Uh… little help?”

You: “JARVIS, Reboot Tony’s suit.”

JARVIS: “Rebooting.”

Tony: “Thank you.”

After Tony’s suit rebooted proper, he went to collect Clint. I, Thor, the Hulk and Rogers headed up towards the Tower, finding Natasha scaling down the side of the building as we climbed up. She looked at me, a brief flicker of relief filling her eyes before realization replaced it, and she turned away. I didn’t question it. Frankly I still wasn’t in the mood to talk to her face to face. Once Tony and Clint caught up with us, we all gathered in the observation room, finding Loki attempting to stand against the stairs. His breath was shallow, raspy, and he was bleeding from multiple places. It took him a moment, but eventually he did notice us, turning to face the eight, very angry men and woman currently pointing a multitude of weapons at his face. He chuckled lightly, re-adjusting himself briefly.

Loki: “If it’s all the same to you.. I’ll have that drink now.” I walked up slowly, kneeling down before him as my visor popped open again.

You: “Want to know what else makes me different from you?” He didn’t have an answer, or maybe he did and I simply didn’t let him provide it. Either way, I punched him square in the nose, knocking him out. “I’m still standing.”

Steve: “That was uncalled for.”

Clint: “I disagree.”

Tony: “I agree with Legolas.” I shook my head, chuckling lightly to myself as the others began to argue.

Bruce: “Did we win?” Oh good Bruce is back.

Thor: “Yes Brother Banner… we certainly did. Come, let me regale you of our tale of battle and victory over a feast! Where we shall sing songs of valor and victory, such as the Star Spangled Man!”

Steve: “You are NOT bringing that up again!”

Tony: “Oooo, that sounds like fun! Anything to embarrass Capsicule! There’s a shawarma place about three blocks from here I’ve been dying to try, let’s do it there!”

Clint: “Shawarma and embarrassing stories? Sounds like a blast.”

Tony: “You comin (Y/N)?” I turned to the others, all looking expectantly at me. All, except Natasha, she was looking away, almost as if in shame.

You: “You guys go ahead. I uh, I got something to deal with.”

Tony: “K.. To Shawarma!”

Thor/Clint/Bruce: “To Shawarma!”

Steve: “What’s Shawarma?”

Bruce: “Anyone got a shirt I can borrow?”

Clint: “Can someone help me collect my arrows?” Their collective voices faded as I looked over the damage in the room. I sighed, then turned to leave. A different destination in mind for me. I scooped up Loki, my visor closing as I left, for the Heli-Carrier.

As I arrived, a multitude of soldiers made their way outside, lining up to salute me as I carried the defeated god inside. On the end of the line, stood Fury and Hill, both waiting for me with small smiles on their faces.

You: “Put him somewhere he can’t do any harm until I’m finished.” Fury’s face fell into confusion as I handed Loki’s still unconscious form off to the guards.

Fury: “Finished with?”

You: “I want to meet the Council.”

Hill: “Whoa, whoa, whoa no. You’re not even close to authorized to..”

Fury: “Stand down Hill.” She deflated as a look of exasperation grew across her features. “To hell with authorization. They tried to nuke him.. I’d say he’s earned an audience.” Damn right I had. My suit opened up, my titanium cane releasing from the hip as I followed Fury inside and down a multitude of halls. He led me to a small room off to the side, four separate screens already on, showing for different people, all looking rather angry.

Councilman Malick: “Director Fury.. I hope you have a good explanation for…” He stopped, stunned into silence as I followed closely behind Fury.

Councilwoman Hawley: “What is the meaning of this? Who is this man?”

Fury: “This.. is (Y/N) Howard Stark. Or as you may know him, the Crimson Blade.”

You: “I’d say it’s a pleasure… but this isn’t going to be a pleasant conversation for anyone involved.”

Councilman Yen: “And who exactly gave you the authority to waltz into this secure video conversation?”

You: “No one.. Just no one argued when I demanded to speak with you.”

Councilman Malick: “I hardly see how that would be…”

You: “you ordered a nuclear strike against a civilian population.. I think THAT gives me the right.. Now sit there and shut it.” They silenced, taking deep breathes before allowing me to continue. “I’m just here to tell you that due to circumstances you created.. You four have lost any credibility with the Avengers.”

Councilman Yen: “The Avengers initiative was supposed to be scrapped.”

You: “It was.. and now it has been reinstated. I think the fact that not only did they save the world from an alien invasion, but YOUR misguided judgement proves that.”

Councilwoman Hawley: “And now that it has been reinstated.. what will you do with it?”

You: “The Avengers will be working closely with S.H.E.I.L.D., but only on an official basis. Otherwise they will be left free of any oversight, meaning you. After all you scrapped the project, with that I feel you gave up all rights to command over it.”

Councilman Yen: “And the Tesseract? We have a multitude of projects that we have yet to give up surrounding that.”

You: “That.. will go back where it belongs. Out of the hands of mortal beings.”

Councilman Malick: “What of the war criminal?”

You: “Loki will also be returning with the Tesseract to Asgard with Thor.”

Councilwoman Hawley: “I don’t think you understand the gravity of the decisions you are forcing upon us. “

You: “I most certainly do. The decisions I’ve made over my career have only led me where I am today due to the meddling of others. These, I make on my own. For the betterment of the world. The powers you tampered with are what caused this in the first place. Had you not wanted the Tesseract to be used, Loki would have never come here. You created this problem from the very beginning. I’m just fixing it.”

Councilman Malick: “Then what are we left with Mr. Stark?”

You: “With the knowledge that should the world need them again, the Avengers won’t be too far away. They made a statement today, that the world has its hero’s. Hero’s willing to go above and beyond not just the call of duty.. but the call of Human morality.. those that know the true meaning of fighting for their fellow man and are capable of doing something about it. My father believed in that, Fury believed in that. And now, so does the rest of the world.” Silence fell, all four pairs of eyes angrily staring me down. I stood firm, refusing to back away.

Councilman Malick: “… Is that what you’re making now? A statement?”

You: “… A promise. Good bye councilmen.” I turned, leaving the council to stew in their anger as Fury shut the room down.

Fury: “Not bad Stark. Not bad.” He walked beside me, clapping an arm around my shoulder. “You know.. We could do something about that ‘THEY’ comment. Turn that into a ‘WE’. If you’re interested.” I stopped turning towards him.

You: “How do you mean?”

Fury: “I had you discharged, I could always undo that.. make you a Lieutenant again.” I cocked my brow at him.

You: “Really?”

Fury: “That was the plan. We were going to do that if you had agreed to join up with S.H.E.I.L.D. after the incident with your leg.” I pondered his offer, stroking at my chin lightly. “It would mean you could work with us, be an official Avenger. We’d of course fix your leg.” I smirked, turning to him to give my answer.

*Two Weeks Later*

(Natasha’s POV)

We had all gone our separate ways after Thor took Loki and the Tesseract, Rogers went back to D.C. And Tony, Bruce and (Y/N) all went back to Stark Tower. Clint ended up hanging around for a bit, wanting to catch up after the month or so we had spent apart. Fury had given us some leave time so we used it to the fullest. That was two weeks ago, I never left New York.

Re-connecting with Clint was fine, but there was someone else I needed to talk to. Right now, I was walking up to the building, hoping to catch him here. Intelligence said he’d recently undergone surgery, so I was using that as an excuse to come see him. The tower was filled to the brim with construction workers, all thoroughly distracted by the work around them, making it easy for me to sneak in unnoticed. After searching most of the towers floors, I did eventually find him near the top, a large workspace having already been cleared out. He was sitting in a chair, back turned to the door, currently on the phone with someone. The room was relatively large, clearly some kind of office space. A multitude of bladed weapons lined the wall, including one of the Chitauri spear weapons, and Loki’s Scepter. On either side of the back window, sat two of the Legion Drones, and off to the side wall were two large suit displays, both empty. Likely meant for the Monger and Whiplash armors. On the desk he sat in front of, sat a crimson red visor, partially shattered open.

You: “…I understand your frustration, believe me but this wasn’t my decision. The city asked us to take charge of the cleanup, I didn’t have much of a choice.. I get it, no I do.. well maybe you could come work for us.. It would still be your trucks.. Mr. Toomes please be reasonable… Mr. Toomes.. Mr..” He pulled the phone away, eyeing it offended. “Well fine, hang up then.” He sighed, before slumping back in his chair. “Either you’re not as good a spy as I’ve heard.. or you wanted me to hear you come in.”

Natasha: “I wasn’t exactly sneaking around.” He spun in his chair, resting his folded hands on the desk before him. He was wearing the same suit he had meant to during our private lunch.

You: “Something I can do for you Ms. Romanoff?” That stung a bit.

Natasha: “(Y/N)… There’s something I want to talk to you about, if you’ll let me.” He eyed me up and down, sighing heavily before… standing. “You fixed your leg.” He looked down, smirking lightly as he walked over to the side of the room on his own two feet. A black and silver cane gripped in his hand instead of taping against the floor. He made his way towards a set of large chairs set near a coffee table.

You: “That reminds me.. JARVIS be sure to send a thank you note to Dr. Strange for the surgery.”JARVIS: “Of course sir.”

You: “Please.” He directed me to the other chair, taking a seat himself in the first one. I sat, leaning forward as he sat back, one leg crossed over the other. He looked to me, expecting me to go first. For some reason, I just couldn’t come out and say it outright. So I danced around it at first.

Natasha: “So… Is this you’re office now?” He nodded.

You: “Yeah.. I decided to move in actually. Took some reasoning with Tony, but eventually he came to understand that it is MY tower after all. So this is my ‘at home’ office, if you want to call it that.” Short, curt. He knew I wasn’t here to talk about his living arrangements.

Natasha: “And… that?” I nudged toward the wall. His eyes followed mine, falling on the Scepter that decorated it. He chuckled before turning back to me.

You: “Replica, unfortunately. Fury wouldn’t let me keep the real one. But I like to have a trophy or two from fallen enemies. The Monger, Whiplash, now the Scepter.” He fell into silence again, his eyes boring into my own. “You had something to say.. say it.” I sighed, he was still pissed, and frankly rightfully so.

Natasha: “When we met, yeah, I had been ordered to coerce you into providing S.H.E.I.L.D. with anything it needed. I didn’t know what it was at the time, just that I was supposed to get close to you. At the time, I didn’t care about it for two reasons. One, I have red in my ledger that I want wiped away, I didn’t have a choice but to take the assignment if I wanted some wiped away. And two, It wasn’t the first time I had done something like that, so I figured it’d be an easy mission. Then I met you.” He remained silent, allowing me to continue. “When I met you, something compelled me to get to know you. And as I did, I started to realize how difficult this assignment was. I became compromised, beginning to fall for the target. You.” Still he remained silent, his (E/C) eyes remaining trained on me. “To a lot of people, I’m just a pretty face, with you, I felt like so much more. You were friendly, funny, a perfect gentleman all the way. And I respected that, appreciated that. So much so that by the time we… by the time we kissed, I wanted to come clean. To tell you everything. I just didn’t know how to tell you. I was afraid to tell you. I was afraid because I didn’t know how’d you react, if you’d turn away from me. Then… well.. you found out anyway.” We sat in silence, his eyes never turning away from me. Still he said nothing. I stood, figuring I had already overstayed my welcome. “Anyway, I just wanted you to know why it all happened. And to tell you I’m sorry.” I turned, making my way to the door.

You: “Fury told me everything.” I stopped, turning to face him with a shocked look. He nodded, his foot falling to the ground as he leaned forward in his own chair. “Yeah. We talked for a bit. He told me everything about the assignment, that he has dirt on you, everything.” I could feel a cold sweat building along the back of my neck.

Natasha: “So.. he told you about my ledger then.” To my surprise, he shook his head no.

You: “He offered, but I refused. I know you had your reasons, but I didn’t want to know anything you didn’t want to tell me.”

Natasha: “….why?” He stood.

You: “A friend of mine once told me to remember that nobody’s perfect, and that sometimes we do things without knowing the full picture. We can’t always be blamed for our actions because sometimes, it wasn’t our choice.” He walked over to me, taking slow purposeful steps. “Coulson told me that. Pretty wise advice don’t you think?” He smirked, coming to stand in front of me, his hands folded behind his back. I nodded, agreeing with him. “He also told me, to ask you about why Fury ordered you to come after me. Thing is, I didn’t have to. You came here all on your own, told me everything on your own.”

Natasha: “… So, what does that mean, exactly?” It made me feel a bit more sure of my stance right now that he wasn’t throwing me out, he wasn’t yelling, and as far as I could tell, he was taking Phil’s advice.

You: “That’s up to you.”

Natasha: “Me?” He nodded.

You: “If I were in your shoes and you in mine, what would your next move be? Knowing that I, as you, lied to you for the profit of the organization I work for, but only because I felt I had no other choice, because my superiors had promised to wipe away all the misdeeds I had done?” The assured feeling I had been cultivating quickly dissipated.

Natasha: “If I were you? I wouldn’t forgive me. My reasons don’t justify what I did.” He scoffed.

You: “You’re absolutely right. They don’t.” I sighed, that was it then. I turned to leave, only to have him stop me, catching my hand. I turned back; he had a small smile on his face. “Good thing I’m not you.” He rushed forward, tangling his other hand in my hair as he pressed his lips against mine in a soft, yet deeply passionate kiss. It caught me by surprise at first, but I quickly accepted it, closing my eyes as I returned the kiss. I thought I heard a muffled groan come from above us, but it was quickly forgotten. It was he that finally broke the kiss, pulling away with a soft pant and a grin. “That. Was amazing.”

Natasha: “It certainly was. So, does this mean you forgive me?” His grin fell a bit.

You: “It means, I’m willing to try, if you stay as honest and open as you were when you walked into this office.” I nodded, perfectly reasonable request. “We can start over. I’m thinking, dinner? The observation floor should be ready in about a week, I’ll cook and we can eat here. Sound good?” Again I nodded. He backed away. “Well then.” He offered his hand. “(Y/N) Howard Stark, good to meet you.” I laughed lightly, but accepted the gesture, taking his hand.

Natasha: “Natalia Alianovna Romanoff, wonderful to meet you too.” We shook, chuckling lightly as we did. “Well, I’ll let you get back to work then.” I turned to leave.

You: “Natasha…” I looked back over, he was looking upwards, staring into the vent that sat above us, then thrusted his cane into it. It fell open, and Clint fell out after it, groaning as his back connected with the floor.

Clint: “My everything.” I rolled my eyes, hauling him off the floor then shoving him towards the door. “Alright I get it I’m leaving.” He made his way out first; I followed, but stopped at the door.

Natasha: “(Y/N)...” I turned back, finding he had returned to the desk in the center of the room. He looked up at me, a smile still on his face. “You said you talked to Fury… did he offer to reinstate you as a Lieutenant? So you could come work for S.H.E.I.L.D.?” He nodded. “But you said that a Dr. Strange fixed your leg.” Again he nodded. “Did you not take Fury’s offer?”

You: “I didn’t.”

Natasha: “Why?” He chuckled again.

You: “I was dishonorably discharged. Once that happens, by law you can’t work for the government anymore. And who am I to break the law?” Liar.

Natasha: “So you did it to get under Fury’s skin again.” He snapped his fingers.

You: “Bingo.”

Natasha: “But... if you remain D.D.’d, you can’t work with the Avengers. You deserve to be one just as much as anyone on the team.” He nodded again, a thoughtful look crossing his eyes.

You: “I thought about that when I turned Fury down, and yeah it kinda stinks I won’t be an ‘official’ Avenger. But that doesn’t mean I can’t ‘consult’ every now and then when needed. Fury agrees, so what’s the harm right?”

Natasha: “So you’ll be working with us on an unofficial basis?” He nodded, a grin crossing his face.

You: “Just call me an Unofficial Mighty Hero.”

END

Or is it?

*A few hours later*

(Your POV)

You: “Yep, right in here boys, just wheel them in and leave them wherever.” It was the end of the night, the last of the construction workers had left for the day. All that was left was me, and the two large deliverymen currently wheeling in the destroyed remains of the Iron Monger and Whiplash suits. “Thank you gentleman. Have yourselves a good night.” They waved me off, leaving for the night silently. I looked over the wreckage. I don’t know what Tony did with the W.L. but it was shredded, literally shredded near to pieces. And the Monger was no better, dented and smashed in in multiple places, the left arm broken clean off. I sighed... lot of work to do. “Alright JARVIS shut it down, I’ll figure this all out in the morning.” The lights dimmed as I left the work room.

JARVIS: “Is there anything else you’d like me to do before shutting down the tower sir?” I thought about it a moment, then turned back to the two large suits. As I did, an idea came to mind... well, always best to be ready for the worst.

You: “Yeah, open a new file on the private servers. Put the prints for the I.M.R. and the W.L. in there.”

The final chapter... wow... kinda surreal being able to say that. Anyway, if you're reading this after finishing the story then good for you! If not, well you're just ruining it for yourself when I say there will in fact be more of the Crimson Blade in the future! That's right, I'mma keep goin! I just have no idea when! Yeah, gonna take a little hiatus from the UMH'verse for a little bit. There will be one-offs that pop up here and there between now and the next major story. But until I'm ready to publish that one there won't be a weekly thing anymore. Sorry all. But I'm not going anywhere and I AM working on the next one as I type this! I just want all the chapters ready next go round because giving myself a week to write them was a bit stressful on occasion.Anyway, as always let me know what you think in the comments below!I don't own Marvel, the avengers, the images used, or you.

I'm gonna be dropping some one off stories here and there between now and the next major write so everyone will still have something to read. But I'm not sure when the next major story will start being posted.

Ha Scarlett I get it as in Scarlett Johansen or however you spell her last name. Nice. But is this the end??? Or will there be one more like one in civial war would be really interesting!! Considering nat on one side and tony on the other